Porte sleeps on wheels to improve Giro d'Italia chances

PARIS (Reuters) - Team Sky's obsession with finding the most marginal of gains was evident when manager Dave Brailsford confirmed that leader Richie Porte was sleeping in a motorhome rather than at hotels during the Giro d'Italia.

"Even though we have our own mattresses and pillows, when you change hotels every night, you must unpack and pack everyday and go into a hotel without knowing what it's like," Brailsford told Cyclingnews and La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I've been thinking if you didn't have to do all of that and if you have your own environment and privacy, and if you have your own bed. It seemed there was a logic to try to see if works."

During stage races, riders spend the night at a team hotel and provide the International Cycling Union (UCI) with their room number.

Team sheets with every rider and staff member's room numbers are displayed in hotel lobbies and those lists are kept until the end of the race.

The reports said that Porte's motorhome was parked at the team hotel.

The Australia lies 37th in the standings after two stages, 27 seconds behind race leader and compatriot Michael Matthwes, having lost 20 seconds to main rival Alberto Contador in the opening team time trial.